Is change coming to the CPI?

Although the inauguration of the U.S.’s 44th President is now fading into memory, the changes that Barack Obama’s Administration will bring to the chemical process industries (CPI) are only beginning to reveal themselves. One thing is very clear, though: In these tough economic times, some very important policy issues are on the agenda with direct implications to our field. At the top of the list are plant security and energy, both of which are complicated by an longstanding public-relations challenge. As change in Washington gets off the ground, an additional shift in leadership has already taken root on the other side of the Potomac River. In September of last year Cal Dooley, a 14-year member of the U.S. House of Representatives, officially took reigns as president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Arlington, Va.; www.americanchemistry.com). With first-hand appreciation for advocacy in Washington, Dooley is wasting no time reaching out to the new legislative and executive branches of government. One of the first major steps Dooley took after the November election involves a letter and paper detailing ACC’s clean-energy economic-recovery proposals, both of which were sent on December 18, 2008 to…